Building Our Lives On Rock
October 25, 2023
Fr. John Riccardo
Brothers and sisters: You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
(1 Thess 1:5c-10)
In this short section, Paul looks back to those initial moments when he was preaching the gospel to the Thessalonians over the span of three weeks. While many hearts were opened to the Lord and turned to faith, much opposition also arose. In fact, so much opposition arose that Paul and his companions had to sneak out of town. For this, and other reasons, Paul reminds them that they received “the word in great affliction.”
In these days, when there is so much unrest virtually everywhere we look, it would seem this little phrase of Paul’s is worth lingering with. Affliction, hardship, and difficulty is the norm for the disciple of Jesus. It is the pattern we should expect. “Christianity is a battle not a dream,” Wendell Phillips accurately wrote. A battle against spiritual forces. A battle against our own rebellious ego, prone to selfishness, idolatry, and the like.
Saint Augustine repeatedly warned his flock not to build on sand, meaning not to think life was going to be easy once a person became a Christian. Faith doesn’t magically make all of life’s challenges disappear. Instead, faith enables us to know and to see that with every challenge and every temptation God provides the grace and the strength necessary to endure.
The events of the past few weeks in the world, the Church, our country, the lives of many who have reached out, and my own life, have led me to turn again and again to a passage from The Book of Sirach. It is the very passage Augustine used to teach from when he was discipling new Christians. I would humbly suggest it’s worth our praying with this week. It is a sober reminder of what we can expect if we choose, and it is a choice, to follow God. But it’s also a hopeful reminder that God is always faithful — always.
My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal. Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.
Cling to him and do not leave him, so that you may be honored at the end of your days. Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient, since gold is tested in the fire, and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation.
Trust him and he will uphold you, follow a straight path and hope in him. You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not turn aside, for fear you fall. You who fear the Lord, trust him, and you will not be robbed of your reward. You who fear the Lord, hope for those good gifts of his, everlasting joy and mercy.
Look at the generations of old and see: whoever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? Or whoever, steadfastly fearing him, was forsaken? Or whoever called to him and was ignored? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, he forgives sins and saves in the time of distress.
Woe to faint hearts and listless hands, and to the sinner who treads two paths. Woe to the listless heart that has no faith, for such will have no protection. Woe to you who have lost the strength to endure; what will you do at the Lord's visitation? Those who fear the Lord do not disdain his words, and those who love him keep his ways. Those who fear the Lord do their best to please him, and those who love him will find satisfaction in the Law. Those who fear the Lord keep their hearts prepared and humble themselves in his presence.
Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, not into any human clutches; for as his majesty is, so too is his mercy.